Nitrogen Containing O- and P-Quinones As Cathode Materials for Lithium Batteries

Organic cathode materials have received significant research interest as cathode materials of lithium-ion batteries because of sustainability and flexibility. However, they suffer from lower voltages than inorganic materials. To increase the voltage of batteries using organic cathode materials without decreasing the capacity, we replaced the CH moieties b to the carbonyl group of quinones with nitrogen atoms. The coordination of nitrogen atoms to lithium ions in the reduced forms and the greater electronegativity of nitrogen than carbon make reduction energetically more favorable. The lithium batteries using the nitrogen containing o- and p-quinones as cathode materials exhibited voltages higher than 3.0 V (the first stage).